We recently connected with Erin Kennedy and have shared our conversation below.
Erin , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
In 2021, at 36, I hit my career peak on paper. I was offered my “dream job” title, but it turned out to be far from a dream. Imagine having a lifelong idol and upon meeting them, they turned out to be the opposite of everything you value about them and yourself; it was just like that. My mental health plummeted and by the time I chose to leave, I was questioning my career past and career future entirely.
In the weeks after I left, I questioned if that was still the right career path for me, and my gut kept telling me no. It was nearing the holiday months and funds were depleting, I was down to about $300 to my name. I had baking ingredients though, and a seven-year hobby of making Oatmeal Cream Pie cookies whenever the opportunity arose. I thought about all the people I knew who had asked me if I’d ever consider selling my Oatmeal Cream Pies, to which I always said “There is no way I can just sell one [type of] cookie.” So I proposed the question to social media, “If I were to sell my OCPs this holiday season, would anyone be interested in purchasing some?” Immediately friends said yes, as I expected, but they weren’t the only ones.
One particular person, who happened to be a member of a local elementary school PTA group, asked if they could purchase 96 individually wrapped cookies to provide their schools teachers and aides a 9-week appreciation gift. In that moment, I thought, “Huh, can it really be that ‘easy’?” (easy being a very operative word looking back). In a moment a hobby that I never imagined turning into a business, became one, and it felt right. I shuffled to create a name, logo, and labels; researched rules and legalities, ordered some individual cookie wrappers on Amazon and by the time the date came for me to deliver them to the school, OMG OCPs was in business.
This year we are celebrating our 3rd birthday; and since that first order, we have become a first-of-its-kind Oatmeal Cream Pie specialty shop in the world. We have taken our OG recipe and created over 80 different flavors of OCPs, graduated from a home kitchen to a brick-and-mortar shop in downtown Richmond, VA, and sold over $300,000 of just one type of cookie, which I said for so long I could never do.
Now in the storefront, prominently on the wall, is my favorite quote by Nelson Mandela “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
Erin , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
OMG OCPs is a first-of-its-kind, specialty Oatmeal Cream Pie shop. I encourage people to think of it like ice cream or donuts; one dessert, many flavors.
My love for Oatmeal Cream Pies (OCPs) started like many others, by Little Debbie. Growing up they were a staple in our pantry, but when my career took me international in my 20s, a Little Debbie OCP was rarely, if ever, available. However, when I moved back to the US in late 2013 a new, local bakery had opened in my hometown and on my first visit there I ordered their homemade Oatmeal Cream Pie. It was incredible and I had never even considered it being a homemade product, it was always just a processed, packaged, snack.
I would never consider myself savvy in a kitchen, definitely not a baker, but I wanted to try my hand at making my own OCPs. Recipes with ingredients I didn’t recognize were an immediate turn-off, and I was surprised at how many had them. Eventually I found two separate recipes, one for the cookie and one for the icing, and I figured I could just combine them. Six hours later I had created something that was similar to an Oatmeal Cream Pie, but definitely not a stable cookie. The taste was there, but the consistency was not. So I tried again, exactly like the recipe said, and I didn’t like them at all.
Over the course of seven years, I took any opportunity I could to make a mass amount of cookies (cookouts, pot-lucks, holidays, etc) to make OCPs. After lots of baking research and trial and error, I finally created a consistent OCP that had everyone begging for the recipe. With so many requests, I knew I may have something special, so I kept it to myself, turning the requests for the recipe into requests to purchase.
Today, besides the cookies being different and delicious, the story of OMG OCPs is what brings people into our store. I always call it a “happy accident” as being an entrepreneur or considered a baker was never once something I imagined I’d be. But now to have a place and a space that not only offers a unique experience, but is inclusive, community driven, and brings moments of joy to others every single day, well, this is the real dream.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
With only about $300 to my name, no real capital or assets, most would say I had no business going into business, but I genuinely believed in my OCPs by this point and felt like I had nothing to lose. I made another batch with the same ingredients I had on hand already and took a sample cookie to about 10 different small grocery markets within the city and surrounding counties.
I was both exhilarated and terrified when all of them said yes. Using some of the money I had from my first order, bought more ingredients and in my home kitchen, started baking, labeling and packaging each individually wrapped OCPs all by myself. Each location wanted to start with one or two dozen to see how they sold, and because those were small numbers, comparatively speaking, they paid me with cash or check at delivery.
Three of them sold out within the first week and immediately requested more. The other seven requested more by the second week.
I included our website and social media handle @omgocps on each front label, so as people all over the area started grabbing this new sweet treat in stores, they would start to follow our social media handle. I would post when I made drop-offs at each location and over the next couple of months the business started taking off.
I added e-commerce to our website so people could order online and started doing weekend vendor events throughout the state. I had been working part-time during these first months of getting off the ground, so I was able to put everything the business made back into it.
Fifteen months after starting OMG OCPs in my home kitchen, I had officially outgrown it and needed more space. I signed a lease for a spot in downtown Richmond in July of 2023. Downtown of any city has its pros and cons, but one thing that is for sure is that real estate ain’t cheap. More than many people asked me if I genuinely believed I would be able to afford this jump just selling OCPs, but by that point I was so confident in myself and my OCPs that I hadn’t a doubt in my mind. We have now been opened and operating at 3 N 17th St, Richmond VA 23219 since October of 2023.
From the very beginning the business grew a little bit more on the back of each and every order, and still does to this day. I hope that eventually we can find someone(s) willing to invest and help us take another step into franchising, but until then, some months are good, some are great, but none have ever been bad. It can’t be when you see how much joy that first bite brings to so many.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Word-of-mouth has hands-down been our greatest and strongest source for new customers, but that can’t be the only way.
Choosing to kick off the business by wholesaling provided it an opportunity to expand far beyond my personal scope, and quickly. As overwhelming as it was for a short time, it worked. By the time we started doing vendor events throughout the community, people were recognizing our brand and then coming over and bringing whomever they were with in the moment. I utilized social media to provide a calendar of events and markets I’d be selling at, and continued to post when I’d do market drop-offs. As the business, our social media and our community presence grew, we used the platform to share that we had added e-commerce to our website and started to get catering orders for showers, work events and weddings. All which led to the need for a storefront space.
As a niche product in a saturated market, I knew I had to use media and social media to spread the word about our storefront opening. As it was located in the heart of downtown, many of the local social media pages and influencers caught wind quickly and began posting to their followers about it. The new channels grabbed it from there, as well local magazines, radio stations and podcasters. With their help, by the time we were set to open shop we had nearly tripled our social media following and had a large audience excited about what was to come.
A more unexpected source of new customers has come from tourists and transient customers. Within our first year open, we had customers visit from all 50 states, most intentionally seeking us out as a part of their planning visit to Virginia/Richmond. We are in the shadow of the train station and in one of the more historical areas of Richmond (our building is from 1833), therefore we get many who may not seek us out intentionally, but find us nonetheless, and that I am confident wouldn’t be the case if we opened anywhere else.
Lastly, beyond the product, we are very intentional with our space and the energy it and our staff provides. Because of that, customers are willing to take the effort to leave positive reviews and feedback across major platforms such as Google and Yelp and we always follow-up with thanks. Putting yourself out there, positively interacting and creating connections with customers will not only keep them coming back, but will naturally become your greatest marketing campaign…and it’s free!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.omgocps.com
- Instagram: @omgocps
- Facebook: @omgocps
- Yelp: OMG OCPs
Image Credits
Eileen Melon, Richmond Times-Dispatch, OMG OCPs